Kathryn Maxwell

My solo exhibition Thirst was on view at 515Arts in Phoenix throughout the month of February. The exhibition was inspired by a second trip to the island of Skopelos, Greece in July when I took a group of ASU students to study printmaking at SkopArt.* Swimming in the blue green Aegean at the end of a hot day of teaching and printmaking was a highlight of the trip. On a small island, water is constantly within sight. It is omnipresent and ever changing.

The exhibition wasn’t a travelogue, however. Rather the constant presence of the Aegean led to thoughts about the wider implications of water. Water is fundamental to life on Earth.  As a resource, we manage, study, and abuse it. Water can serve us and quench our physical thirst but there is another dimension to our relationship with water. It comforts and soothes us; it inspires and surprises us. It is a fearsome force of nature that can sustain or destroy us.

Thirst can be the simple physical need for water but there is a secondary definition, that of craving or desire. Humans have a thirst for power, knowledge, riches, and love. We spend our lives managing, studying, and abusing ourselves through our desires.  We can be comforted and soothed by achieving our desires. We can be inspired to continue striving and surprised by the depth of our cravings. They can sustain us or destroy us. Thirst—craving and desire—is fundamental to being human.

*The course “Printmaking in Greece” will be offered again in June 2012. Look for more information next fall!

Lack of Containment I and II visible

My print for the 2011 calendar.

Mesa Contemporary Arts at the Mesa (Arizona) Art Center has once again put together a fundraising calendar with original, limited edition prints.  I was honored to serve as the juror this year.  29 artists from across the country donated prints specially created in limited editions of 50 for this second benefit calendar. Each calendar has 12 prints, each by a different artist. Participating artists received 2 calendars apiece with 24 prints total. (If only I could figure out how to get the 5 prints I didn’t receive…) The prints range from the humorous to the serious, from the abstract to the figurative with  lithographs, relief prints, etchings, screenprints, mezzotints, and digital prints represented. The prints are small in size (12″ x 10″ maximum) but not in content and visual appeal!

Jana Harper's print

ASU alums Kathy Sheehan, Nathan Feller,

Nathan Feller's screenprint

Melanie Yazzie, Gretchen Schermerhorn and Crystal Phelps generously  contributed their time and talents to produce prints. Current printmaking graduate student Patrick Vincent also contributed  an edition of prints.

Kathy Sheehan's screenprint

Other friends (a special thank you to the Texas contingent!) also contributed prints to the calendar, making this a wonderful keepsake to enjoy throughout 2011. I love looking at the different prints and look forward

Gretchen Schermerhorn's relief and screeprint

to seeing each new print as the page is turned to a new month.

Best of all, I have two different calendars, each with 12 different prints to enjoy!

(The calendars are available at MCA for the bargain price of $200 with all proceeds helping the MCA continue its excellent programming in the visual arts. )

Melanie Yazzie's relief print